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Universal 1070:

Posted in Universals Archive

Universal 1070:

Original
If in a language phonemic stress co-exists with phonemic quantity, one of the two elements is subordinate to the other, and three, almost never four, distinct entities are admitted: either long and short vowels are distinguished only in the stressed syllable or only one of the two quantitative categories, length or brevity, may carry a free, distinctive stress.
Standardized
Provided both stress and quantity are distinctive, either stress distinctions will be limited in terms of quantity (to either long or short vowels) or quantity distinctions will be limited in terms of stress (to stressed syllables only).
Keywords
stress, syllable, quantity
Domain
prosodic phonology
Type
mutual limitation
Status
achronic
Quality
statistical
Basis
sample of 444 languages in Hyman 1977
Source
Hyman 1977: 54, citing Jakobson and Halle 1956: 481; Jakobson 1957 [1971]: 527, cited in Uspensky 1965: 194
Counterexamples

One Comment

  1. FP
    FP

    Cf. Hyman’s reformulation: Languages where both length and stress appear as distinctive features are quite exceptional.

    1. May 2020

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